SupermanHawaii.com

Photo courtesy: Scott Shinsato

by Scott Shinsato

Hey gang! Welcome to 2006 and another edition of the Occasional Orb. With the New Year we will hopefully bring you an interesting selection of reads from the world of comics and superheroes! I thought I’d start off the New Year with a new article I’d like to call “From the Toy Box”.

With this series of articles written from time to time, we’ll pull out an old toy or picture that has some meaning for us as well as a story that will hopefully brighten your day. So with that said, let me tell you a story…

From the Toy Box

Back in the day… when I was about 8 or 9 years old, I was in the cub scouts. Every year the scouts would hold an event called the Pinewood Derby. Basically this was an event in which the scouts and their parents would be given a small pinewood box and make a car out of it. A race would be held a few weeks later. Of course there were rules and regulations for the dimensions and weight of the car but other than that any design in specification would do. With that being said, I told my dad that I wanted to build the Batmobile!

So off we went to work… while other fathers and sons went through handbooks and design specs on creating the “ultimate” car my father asked me what kind of car I wanted to build. While other fathers and sons created sleek aerodynamic cars with the main intention of winning, my father helped me build the best car to race at that year’s event. While other fathers and sons adorned their race cars with derby numbers and racing stripes, my father and I placed batsignals and the Batman logo on the car.

With no real idea on how to create this little car, my father took out a pencil and began sketching an outline on the little block of wood. My mother came out with a few Batman stickers she had been stashing away for a special occasion that she thought we could use on the car and the process began. I remember my father and me working on the little car in our back yard at night. I would look forward to him coming home from work so we could work on this little miniature Batmobile. He did a majority of the work… like I’m sure most fathers did for their kids at the time. He made the initial carvings and did the majority of the sanding. We had painted the car and carefully placed on the stickers in preparation for the finishing touches. There was an air of anxiousness as we finished putting the tires on the car waiting for race day.

I didn’t win the Pine Derby race that year. I don’t even really remember what place I came in. The thing that I do remember about the race that year was that my father and I had taken the little block of wood and created the Batmobile. Win or lose it was the best looking car at the races that year. It is a toy and memory I still treasure to this day and is something I consider one of my most favorite items in my collection.

Hey, we’d love to hear from you guys, send us a picture with your story about a favorite superhero collectible you may have. Costumes and toys, we love them all. Hey keep joining us as this looks to be a big year, especially if you’re a Superman fan. Join us each month as we try to give you guys some interesting articles and opinions from the world of superheroes! Take care and see you next month!

Continue to Page Four

Top of Page